Hunted Angel
by RubinAmigo
Summary: Cas is being hunted by a mysterious creature that hurts him and hides in Sam's and Dean's motel room for a bit. Dean wants to help him, but doesn't know how. Some hurt!Cas and eventually Destiel. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is roughly set in season 6. It isn't really important for the story, but there are very mild spoilers for season 6, so I have hereby warned you. Enjoy.**

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"Cas?" Dean whispered into the darkness of the room. He thought he had heard the soft sound of wing beats. Maybe that was what had awakened him. He wasn't entirely sure though, mainly because he could hardly see a thing, it was so dark. He didn't want to turn on the light next to his bed either, so he wouldn't wake Sam, who was breathing evenly, soundly asleep in the second bed.

He was fairly certain, that it was Cas, who had just entered their room and not some big, bad, ugly monster, wanting to kill the brothers. Slowly his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could make out the shape of a man standing by the window.

"Cas, goddammit, is that you?" he asked again, needing to hear that gruff voice, needing confirmation.

"Yes, Dean. It is me. I am sorry I woke you up. That was not my intention." the angel finally answered, somewhat cryptically. He turned around to face the window and looked outside, through a gap between the curtains, to survey the parking lot.

"Okay, well, it's too late for that now. What do you want anyway?" Dean asked, a little irritated and confused by this late night visit.

Cas didn't react to this at all. He just stood unmoving and continued staring out the window.

"Cas!" Dean said loudly, now becoming annoyed. At this Sam grunted in his sleep, turned over but didn't wake up. It was enough to remind Dean to keep his voice down, though. He was glad that Sammy slept again at all, now that he had his soul back. He didn't want to wake him up if he didn't have to. And being annoyed with an angel, because he didn't tell the brothers any more than he absolutely had to, wasn't a good enough reason.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked again, more quietly.

Finally Cas turned around to face him from across the room. Even though Dean couldn't see his face in this kind of light, he felt the intense gaze of those blue angelic eyes on him and it made him a little uncomfortable.

He thought that it was a strange feeling, because Castiel would always stare at him and he had gotten used to it by now, it was normal for the angel. So why did it feel different now? He didn't have time to dwell on this question though. Cas started speaking and it interrupted Dean's train of thought, which might have led places he wouldn't want to go to.

"I am hiding." the angel explained his presence.

"Hiding from whom?" asked Dean, now completely focused on the problem at hand.

"Or what." Cas added, uncertain.

Dean realized the angel sounded scared and that scared Dean more than anything else could. He had seen Castiel facing death more than once without being the least afraid or worried, he had rebelled against heaven, against his own, very powerful, family and now he had the power of heavens weapons to back him up and he sounded scared. Something was very wrong.

"What do you mean, what?" Dean asked, now giving up on the idea of sleep for this night and sitting up in his bed.

"I don't know. I don't think it is an angel or anything like one, but it might have been sent by one." Cas explained.

"Sent by Raphael." Dean guessed and Cas nodded. "What a dick." Dean cursed quietly, but heartfelt.

"It might not have been him. It might be something entirely different." Castiel defended his brother, even though they were at war at the moment.

"Okay, but something is after you and you don't know what it is. Can't you just use your angel mojo and smite it or something?"

After all angels were the most powerful beings Dean had ever met.

"I haven't been able to do that yet. It is strong. I haven't actually seen the thing itself, just what it is capable of. I saw how it killed another angel. It is not easy to kill an angel, Dean." his voice faltered as he said this.

Dean only nodded. He knew this for a fact from his own experience.

Castiel slowly moved away from the window and sat down on the chair that was standing next to Dean's bed. Now that he was closer, Dean could tell that the angel looked exhausted. But he didn't have much time to study the familiar face, because Castiel bent forward to rest his elbows on his knees and then he hid his face in his hands. When before Dean had been uncomfortable feeling the angel stare at him, he was now disappointed that Cas was no longer looking at him and that he couldn't see the beautiful face anymore.

Wow, he had no idea where those thoughts had come from and he quickly blamed them on lack of sleep and shoved them into the deepest corner of his mind.

"Is there anything I… we can do to help you?" he asked softly, worried about Cas.

"I just need a break. If you let me sit here and rest for a while I will be fine. I will find a way to defeat whatever is hunting me." Castiel answered, slowly raising his head again to look at Dean.

"Okay, sure. Stay as long as you want."Anything that Castiel needed, Dean was willing to give. He couldn't bear seeing Cas so scared, almost broken. Hunted. That's what it was. His angel was hunted.

Wait, his angel? Where had that come from? He was still trying to work through the confusion this question had caused in his head, when he suddenly heard Castiel gasp as if he was in pain. At this, Dean jumped out of bed and knelt next to the angel, who was now holding his middle and almost doubling over from some kind of terrible pain.

"Cas, what's going on? Come on man, you gotta tell me or I can't help you." Now Dean was really scared, scared for Castiel. He had no idea what the hell was wrong with the angel or how to fix it. He just held Castiel's shoulders, trying to prevent him from falling off the chair.

"You can't help. It is close and looking for me." Cas suppressed a groan before he continued. "I don't know what exactly it is doing, but I can't risk it finding you and your brother."

"Wait, Cas, I don't understand. How is it hurting you, when it doesn't even know where exactly you are?" This whole thing made no sense whatsoever to Dean and he felt helpless watching Castiel cringing in pain and fear, caused by some unknown creature.

"I don't understand it, either." Castiel explained between labored breaths. "But I have to get as far away from it as I can. I will come back when I know more."

Castiel was getting ready to leave, Dean could tell. "Wait. I… What…" Dean didn't really know what he wanted to say. He just didn't like the thought of Cas being out there somewhere, on his own, hunted.

He didn't get the chance the figure out what he was going to say though, because apparently Cas was struck by another, more intense wave of pain. He unsuccessfully tried to stifle a cry and this time he would have fallen off the chair, if Dean hadn't steadied him.

"Okay, Cas, maybe you should lie down for a while." Dean suggested, trying to get the angel to move over to his now empty bed.

But Castiel shook his head. "I can't stay any longer." he gasped. "I will be better when I'm farther away from it."

Dean knew he was right, even though he didn't much like it. "Let us know if there is something we can help you with."

Castiel nodded in agreement and then vanished into thin air.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked quietly, after Castiel had left.

Dean almost jumped at the sound of his brother's voice. He hadn't noticed that Sammy was awake.

"How long have you been watching?" he asked wearily, instead of answering Sam's question.

"Long enough to know that something is wrong with Cas." Sam replied.

"Something is hunting Cas, but he doesn't know what it is, except that it's powerful." Dean started to explain the situation to his younger brother, who listened intently and looked very worried when Dean finished.

"And he said we can't help him right now?" Sam asked, thinking out loud. "Well, we'll see about that." And pulled his laptop closer and started searching for a monster that fit the description Dean had given him.

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**I plan to write at least one more chapter for this story, with a possibility of Destiel. Let me know what you think, please.**


	2. Chapter 2

"I really don't know where else to look." Sam told Dean, pushing his computer away.

"What? No, there's gotta be something. We keep searching till we find something." Dean grimly responded. They had to find something, they just had to.

"I've searched every text I could think of and so has Bobby. And you have personally threatened every psychically gifted person you could find into helping us. There's nothing left." Sam tried to reason with his older brother. Ever since Castiel had left three days ago, Dean had been in a foul mood, almost unbearable.

"Look harder, dammit. We're not giving up." Dean snapped.

"I'm not talking about giving up." Sam sighed in frustration. "Look man, I wanna help him, too. I just don't know how anymore. And you being a jerk doesn't exactly help."

Dean stared threateningly at his younger brother, daring him to say something else. But Sam was smart enough to remain silent and after a while the menace faded from Dean's look. "I'm sorry, Sam." he said, turning away from his brother. "I'm just so worried…"

Without saying another word Dean grabbed the keys to the Impala and left Sam alone in the room. He couldn't stand the small room any longer, he had to get out.

After driving around aimlessly for hours Dean returned to their room way past midnight. He found his brother asleep with his head on the table in front of his computer. He felt a pang of guilt for his earlier behavior towards Sammy and shook him awake, so he could go to bed and sleep more comfortably.

He himself stayed up for a while longer, sipping a beer and silently praying to Cas, hoping his angel was alright. With this thought in his mind he finally fell asleep as well.

"Hello, Dean. Sam." Castiel suddenly appeared in their room the following day, his clothes dirty, torn and bloodstained from already healed wounds.

"Cas, you're back." Dean exclaimed and pulled the surprised angel in a tight hug, fully aware he just acted like a girl. But he didn't care, he was too relieved that Cas was alright.

"Thank God, you're okay." He breathed, before releasing Castiel again.

The angel fixed his deep blue eyes on Dean's. "God had nothing to do with it." he stated matter-of-factly.

After simply staring at each other for a long moment Dean finally broke the eye-contact and turned around to Sam, who tried his best to ignore what he had just witnessed his brother doing.

"What?" Dean asked, becoming irritated again.

"Nothing, just… Good to see you again, Cas. Did you find out something about this creature?" Sam cleverly evaded his brother's question.

"Yes, I do have some information for you." Castiel answered, much to the brothers' surprise and relief. They hadn't been sure, whether Cas would really tell them anything, since he hadn't been very forthcoming with information lately.

They sat down on one of the beds and waited for him to start talking, while Castiel remained standing, leaning his back against the wall opposite the two young hunters.

"A witch combined her powers with the powers of an angel to create this monster." he finally told them. "It is like nothing anyone has ever seen before. I will need to find out more about it, before I can fight it."

"A witch and an angel, that's just messed up." Dean forcefully said after a short pause. "I hate those bitches. Witches, I mean. Although most of the angels I've met were just dicks with wings." He looked directly at Castiel, when he remembered, that there actually was an angel in the room with them. "Sorry man, present company not included, of course."

"Anything else?" Sam asked the angel, ignoring his brother's short outburst. While Dean had gotten angry, Sam had switched into research mode and was trying to get as many details from Castiel as he could.

"I don't know anything about the angel, but I know a little about the witch. She's supposed to live in Monroe, Iowa. That is all the information I have."

"Do you want us to find the witch?" Dean asked, watching Sam walk over to his computer on the table to already look up the place on the internet.

"Yes." Castiel simply replied.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I will try to find out who the angel is. And if I can't, I'll find the creature and study it, hopefully learning some of its strengths and weaknesses."

"But won't that be dangerous?" Dean asked quietly, feeling the all too familiar worry from the last few days returning.

"It probably will be." Cas answered evenly.

"I…" Dean started and immediately stopped himself. He wanted to say that he didn't want Cas to go, but he knew that wasn't an option. That creature was not going to stop hunting Cas, they had no choice. He glanced over at his brother, but Sam was already completely engrossed in his research and not really listening to the conversation anymore.

Looking down on his feet he finally managed to say "Just be careful, alright?", even though he really wanted to say so much more.

When another pair of feet came into his sight he looked up again. Castiel stood in front of him, very close, once again ignoring his personal space.

"I heard your prayer last night. That's why I came here today." His voice darker than usual, his eyes a deep pool of calming blue. He put a hand on the young hunter's shoulder, comforting him with his touch, his voice, his look. He hated seeing Dean like this, but at the moment there wasn't much he could do.

"I'll come back again when it's safe. I'll always come back to you." He promised, enjoying the relief and the cautious happiness his words caused.

Feeling he had done all he could to reassure the Winchesters, especially Dean, he vanished again, back to where he had left off in his pursuit of information about this strange, angel-hunting beast.

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**This is not what I had planned the second chapter to be, but it just happened when I started writing it and it felt right. Obviously this is not the final chapter of the story, there is more to come. Enjoy.**


	3. Chapter 3

Castiel returned to his safe hiding place. After talking to the Winchesters he had met with Balthazar, hoping his brother might have some information. But not only had Balthazar claimed not to know anything, he had also refused to help Castiel fighting the creature. If Balthazar was scared, things were very bad.

Castiel sighed and thought about what his next step should be. He only knew as much as he already did, because he had overheard two of Raphael's' henchmen talking about the beast, before they had discovered him. He had barely made it out of that situation alive.

He was fairly sure though, that it wasn't Raphael himself who had lent the witch some of his powers. It probably was a powerful angel who supported Raphael's crusade. He would have to try to find out more about this angel by himself, not something he was looking forward to.

At least the Winchester brothers were trying to find the witch, so he wasn't completely alone in this fight. Maybe it would be enough to eliminate the witches influence to weaken the beast enough, so he could kill it. But there was no way to be sure, which meant he had to collect as much information as he could.

Thinking of the two hunters, especially of Dean, made him feel better and a plan was forming in his mind. Immediately he started to prepare everything and called out to Raphael when he was done.

"Raphael, here I am, come and get me." Castiel knew he was taking a great risk, but he didn't expect Raphael to show up himself, as he had the last time he had called him.

"Castiel, brother, do you want to surrender?" a voice behind him asked. Castiel turned around to see one of Raphael's soldiers standing there, blade in hand, but still holding it loosely by his side.

"No, I do not wish to surrender." Castiel answered, drawing his own blade, as the other angel advanced on him. He didn't really want to fight his brothers, but he didn't have much of a choice. And he wasn't planning on killing him, he just had to defend himself for the moment.

But his opponent made it very easy for him. He charged Castiel, who simply sidestepped his attacker and gave him a little push in the direction of the wall of the cave they were in. The other angel hit the wall and the impact made him bounce back a little and fall to the ground.

Quickly Castiel lit the ring of holy oil he had prepared and the other angel was captured.

"Nice trick, but you didn't expect him to come alone, did you?" another voice called out. Castiel turned to look at this second angelic thug.

"No, not really. But if you leave now I won't kill you. He can't help you anymore." He pointed at the captured angel in his ring of holy fire.

"I don't need him." was the short answer as the angel attacked Castiel. He wasn't much better than his partner though, and it wasn't hard for Cas to block the attack and deliver a killing blow with his blade. Shaking his head sadly at the loss of yet another brother, he wiped the blood off his sword on the dead angel's clothes and straightened to talk to the one he had caught.

"I only have one very simple question." he told him. "I just need to know who is working together with Raphael."

He waited for a while, but didn't get an answer. "Well, then I just hope you'll enjoy eternity in this cave." he said and turned to leave the cave on foot.

"Wait. You can't just leave me here." the captured angel called after him.

"I can and I will, if you don't tell me what I want to know." Castiel replied coldly, slowly walking back to stand in front of the fire.

"Micah." the angel said quietly. "Micah has joined forces with Raphael."

Of course, Castiel thought. It made sense. Micah was the angel of the divine plan and he, Castiel, had prevented the apocalypse from happening, going against the divine plan. Naturally Micah couldn't be happy with that.

He let the fire die down and watched Raphael's thug disappear before he left as well. He had the information he needed; now he had to figure out what to do with it. Micah was a powerful opponent, which made this fight so much harder.

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**As you may have already guessed, this still isn't the final chapter of the story. I thought I'd get to the end a lot faster, but the charakters keep interfering. Chapter 2 was Sam's fault, this time it was Castiel who wouldn't let me write the end yet. Although I already know the ending, I'm as curious as you probably are, to find out what else is going to happen on the way. Something to look forward to, I guess ;) **


	4. Chapter 4

Meanwhile Sam and Dean had arrived in Monroe, Iowa and checked into yet another cheap motel. Even though they had been driving for several hours, the first thing they did was to check the local news for any weird occurrences in the area.

Sam found a few hints that might indicate a witch's activity. There were reports about strange noises and some animal disappearances. They decided to check it out the next day. It was too late to go around and start talking to people. But Monroe was a pretty small town, so they were confident that someone had to know something helpful.

The next morning, after breakfast, they split up to gather more information. Sam went to canvass the neighborhood, where most the reports had come from, while Dean went to the police station to try and get more detailed information on those reports.

After finishing at the police station Dean called Sam to hear how things were going at his end.

"Hey, I think I found something. How about you?" he asked his younger brother.

"I still have a few people to talk to, but so far they've all said pretty much the same."

"Alright, let's meet back at the motel when you're done. I'll get lunch." Dean decided and hung up. He had already started eating his burger, when Sam finally entered the room.

"What took you so long?" he mumbled between bites of the awesome bacon cheeseburger. Without taking his eyes of his food he picked up the second paper bag and threw it at his brother, who deftly caught it.

Sam sat down opposite Dean at the table and peered into his bag. He started to eat a few fries and opened his laptop. "The last person I talked to was a lonely elderly woman who had just lost her dog. She really enjoyed my company and wouldn't stop talking. It took me forever to get out of there." he finally answered Dean's question.

Dean had to stop eating for a moment, because he was laughing so hard at his brother. Sam threw a French fry at his brother, who ducked in time and the projectile missed its intended target, landing harmlessly on the floor. It was only because Dean had already finished his fries and would never give up his burger that he didn't retaliate.

"Did you at least find out something useful? Or are you going to have to visit her again?" Dean asked, still chuckling. Sam glared at him in response.

"It's not funny, Dean."

"Oh yes, it is. But seriously, what did you find out?" The older Winchester had now calmed down and was concentrating on the case again, it was serious enough. They had to help Cas and if they couldn't… He had no idea what he'd do if they couldn't help Cas, it just wasn't an option.

"That lady's dog is just one of many pets that have gone missing in the neighborhood in the last few days. I plotted those disappearances on a local map and it is centered around just a few houses. Our witch probably lives in one of them, right at the center."

Dean pulled the map over to his side of the table and checked the area Sam had marked.

"Hmm, I checked all the reports about disturbances in this town. There were actually quite a few reports for a town this small. But there were some from one address right in the center of the area you marked. A Miss Simmons lives there." he told his brother about what he had found out.

"How did you manage to get all that detailed information in such a short amount of time? Didn't you say you'd go look through reports and files and stuff?" Sam wanted to know.

"Well, the officer on duty was a very charming young woman. We talked for a bit and then she was really eager to help me and get the right files for me." Dean explained, smirking at his brother.

"Let me guess, you got her number?" Instead of answering properly, Dean put a piece of paper on the table, on which a name and a number were written.

"You are unbelievable." Sam said, shaking his head. "Are you gonna call her?"

"Nah, I don't think so." Dean dismissed the idea. This caused Sam to pause and look at his brother. This wasn't the first time that Dean had gotten a number and never actually done anything about it. It was very unusual behavior for his brother.

"What?" Dean demanded, when he noticed his brother staring at him.

"Nothing." Sam replied, silently still wondering. "So, this Miss Simmons. Do you have any more information about her? Could she be our witch?" he quickly changed the subject to the more important matter.

"She could be. It's our best guess. I don't have any more information about her though, just that her first name is Marcia."

Sam immediately started searching for a Marcia Simmons online, but came up with nothing helpful. So the brothers decided to stake out the woman's house that night, to see if anything out of the ordinary was going on there.

Dean decided to let Castiel know what they had discovered so far and what their next step would be. He prayed to the angel when Sam was in the bathroom. He felt like he needed a little privacy for this, even though it felt more like a one-sided phone conversation than an actual prayer. But he knew Castiel would be listening to every word he said.

"Hey, Cas. We think we found the witch you told us about. We're going to watch her place tonight, see what is going on there, just to be sure. I guess you could join us if you want to. Maybe you can see more than we can." He looked around, but he was still alone the room. "Anyway, take care, whatever you do." he added as an afterthought.

The angel still hadn't shown up when Sam came out of the bathroom and the two hunters left the motel and parked the Impala in front of Marcia Simmons' house to watch it from the car. Nothing happened for several hours and the brothers were having trouble staying awake.

"It's her. I can feel it." The low, gravelly voice coming suddenly from the backseat startled both Winchesters.

"Shit, Cas. Don't sneak up on us like that." Dean quietly cursed when he had recovered.

"Sorry." Cas apologized, blue eyes looking directly at Dean.

"It's okay. Just a little warning next time?" Castiel nodded. "Are you sure that the witch is in this house?"

"Yes, I can feel the power from the connection with Micah. And there are some Enochian signs around her door. She probably used them to lead Micah here." the angel explained.

"Who's Micah?" Sam asked.

"He's the angel who joined forces with Raphael and his power helped the witch create the monster. We should go now." Castiel already extended his hands to press two fingers to the brothers' foreheads, but Dean stopped him. "Whoa, wait. Go where to do what?"

"We'll go inside and take the powers away from the witch. She must have an object that focuses Micah's powers on her. We have to find it and destroy it. That should weaken the creature." Castiel told them his plan.

"And if the creature shows up to protect whatever it is we're looking for?" Sam wanted to know.

"It won't. I created a false trail to keep it busy for a while." This time Castiel when reached for the brothers he wasn't stopped.

An instant later they were in the witch's living room. Sam and Dean didn't really know what they were looking for, but apparently Castiel did, because after a quick search he told them that the object wasn't there.

"She probably keeps it somewhere close to her." Sam suggested, so they went to the bedroom looking at the sleeping woman inside.

Dean went through the door first, springing a trap, which threw him across the bedroom, pinning him against the far wall. He clutched his throat because he was being pressed into the wall with so much force that he could hardly breathe anymore.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, but the witch was now awake and he had to concentrate on her. Castiel and Sam entered the bedroom without a problem, but the witch was far from defenseless.

"Her necklace." Castiel whispered to Sam, as he identified the object they needed. They went closer to the bed, but the witch kept them away. Since she couldn't concentrate on both at the same time, she chose Castiel as the bigger threat and started drawing the sigil to banish an angel.

Before she could finish Sam was on her, yanked the necklace from her neck and destroyed the half-finished sigil. In response the witch turned to Sam and flung him across the room. He slammed into the wall next to Dean, hitting his head and falling to the ground unconscious. He still had the necklace in his hand though.

Castiel noticed that taking the necklace hadn't broken the witch's power. Dean was still being choked and Sam couldn't help at the moment. He had to do something fast, before she succeeded in her attempts to banish him or killed the Winchesters.

He teleported to a place right behind her and was ready to make her fall asleep with his own powers, when she suddenly turned and tried to stab him with a blade Micah must have given her. He was so surprised that she would have killed him if Sam hadn't woken up in time, quickly pulled out his gun and shot her.

With the witch dead the powers holding Dean faded and the three of them left the house of the witch. They took the necklace with them, thinking it would still be safer to destroy it, so it couldn't be given to another witch. This was Castiel's task. He zapped Sam and Dean back to the car and then left to take care of the necklace. They met up at the motel room again, later, to discuss how to get rid of the creature that was still out there somewhere.

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**Chapter 4 already, wow. Didn't expect this when I started the story. It took me a few days to write this (mostly because I had to work) but it's finished now and I hope you enjoyed it. In the end it was difficult to stop writing this chapter, but I managed. The next one will probably follow very soon, because I'm on a roll now with this (and it's the weekend ;) ). **


	5. Chapter 5

After the fight with the witch the brothers needed a small break to recover. Castiel assured them that the false trail he had created would keep the monster occupied for a while. More so now, that the witch was dead and couldn't support it with her powers anymore. It wouldn't find him again until he wanted it to. That gave the three of them time to prepare.

They agreed that the two hunters needed to get some rest and the night was almost over. So they all decided to hunt the creature during the next night. They chose a remote location in order to prevent any innocent people from coming across their little battle.

That was really all they could do. Setting the time and the location. They had no idea how to kill the creature so they would bring every weapon available to them. It was always good to be on the safe side, especially when dealing with something entirely new.

Sam and Dean went to bed after they had devised their meager plan for the next night. They both fell asleep almost immediately. Nearly dying once again had made them very tired. Castiel stayed with them, sitting silently in a corner of the room, watching over the sleeping brothers, because as an angel he didn't need to sleep.

Looking out the window he enjoyed this rare moment of peace, right before the next dangerous fight. He wished he didn't have to put the Winchesters in this kind of danger, but he knew that he would surely die if he attempted to take care of the creature by himself. And Dean would never let him go alone anyway, should he ever suggest it to the hunter.

The older Winchester had a very protective streak when it came to people he cared about and Castiel was fairly sure that he belonged in that category by now. Dean would rather die himself than watching someone else get hurt, if he could have prevented it. This was why Castiel had pulled Dean out of hell and this was why he loved the human so much, that he even contemplated to do the same thing Dean would do in his situation.

Only, it would really hurt Dean and if they all went together there was at least a small chance that they might all make it. That was the reason why the angel was still sitting in the corner, watching over the Winchester brothers and counting the hours of the new day.

After having watched the brothers sleep for a few hours he got up, walked over to Sam and lightly touched two fingers to Sam's forehead. He wanted to make sure that he younger Winchester would be asleep for a little while longer. Then he went over to Dean and also touched two of his fingers to his forehead as well, though for a different reason.

Shortly after this Dean woke up and found he was no longer lying in a reasonably comfortable bed, but on solid rock instead. Confused he sat up and looked around him. He was no longer in a motel room at all. It looked like he was on the top of a mountain and he wasn't alone.

"Cas, what the hell?" he asked as he spotted the angel standing nearby, his back to Dean.

Cas turned to his head briefly to look at him. "Good morning, Dean." He didn't say anymore and kept staring ahead across the mountains. Dean had absolutely no idea what was going on, but he got up from the ground and went to stand next to Castiel. When he reached him Dean stopped and stared himself. They were indeed on the top of a mountain, standing on a ledge, looking out over seemingly endless more mountains. The view was absolutely breathtaking.

"What are we doing here? Where's Sam?" Dean asked again.

"Sam is fine. He is asleep in his bed I imagine." the angel answered the second question.

"Alright, good." Dean was relieved that his brother was okay. It had been a bit of a shock to wake up on a mountain without Sam being there as well. _Freakin' angels,_ he thought to himself. One would think he'd be used to these kinds of stunts, but Castiel still managed to surprise him occasionally.

"But what are we doing here in the freaking middle of nowhere? I should be asleep in my bed right now, too, don't you think?" he had no idea how he felt at the moment. He had gone from confused to worried to relieved and to confused again in a matter of seconds. Finally he settled on being pissed at the angel who had just pretty much abducted him in his sleep.

"Don't you feel it?" Cas asked, ignoring Dean's rapid mood swings and causing the hunter to become confused again.

"Feel what?" he demanded looking at the angel standing next to him.

"All that." Castiel motioned over the mountain tops in the distance and all around them, but did not turn his head towards Dean. "The quiet, the peace. Things might be different tomorrow for some of us."

Dean followed Castiel's gesture and for the first time really looked around him. Finally he understood what the angel was trying to tell him. At night they would confront a monster with unknown strengths. _I'm such a dick sometimes,_ he thought as the realization hit him. Castiel was obviously worried that one of them might not survive the night.

Without looking at the angel next to him he slowly felt for his hand and took it firmly in his own, squeezing it lightly in reassurance. Only now did Castiel turn towards Dean, looking at him directly for the first time since he'd brought them there.

Dean turned, too, and they stood there just looking at each other. "We will beat this son of a bitch. We will all be fine." Dean fiercely said after a while. It almost broke his heart to see his angel so worried.

"You can't know that." Castiel answered sadly, looking away from Dean again. This was very unusual behavior for him. Dean let go of his hand and reached for Castiel's face. He put his hand under the angel's chin and turned his head back, so he could look him in the eyes again.

"No, I can't know that, but I have to believe it. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to even enter this fight." A spark of hope ignited in Castiel's eyes and Dean let go of his face and reached for the other man's hands again. "We have won so many fights that looked like a lost cause. I mean, come on Cas, we stopped the goddamn apocalypse. We can kill one lousy monster."

Castiel gave him a cautious smile. "Thanks." He hadn't really known why he had taken Dean to this remote place, just that he had needed some time alone with him. He hadn't expected to need the kind of comfort Dean had just offered him, but he had needed it, badly, and now he felt a lot better about the oncoming battle.

For a long while they just stood there, fingers intertwined, looking at each other. Gradually they moved ever closer together. How it happened, who was responsible for it, neither of them knew. It was like a gravitational pull. Finally they were standing so close that if one of them just leaned forward slightly…

Dean's thoughts were interrupted when Castiel suddenly lifted his head to the sky and took a step back. Dean felt a sharp stab of hurt at this perceived rejection. It surprised him a lot. He hadn't admitted to himself how much he had wanted for one of them to really lean forward those last few inches.

"Sam is awake and he is calling me. He's worried that something happened. We should go back now." Castiel explained what was suddenly going on, making Dean instantly feel better again. The moment was gone though and Cas zapped them back into the motel room where Sam waited. They told him some phony story about scoping out the area where they wanted to ice the monster that night and Sam seemed to buy it. The rest of the day was spent with preparations for the battle that was only hours away anymore.

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**Yay, I could finally log on again and update the story. I would have updated sooner if I could have. But here it is Chapter 5. There is Destiel coming up, can you feel it? Too bad Sam woke up when he did this time. **


	6. Chapter 6

Later that same day, at dusk they went to the clearing in the woods, which they had chosen for this encounter. They were as prepared as they could possibly be and eager for the fight, eager for it to be finally over. The brothers went to hide in the trees, while Castiel disappeared for a moment to lead the creature right to the clearing.

When the angel returned the clearing appeared to be empty, except for him. He turned around slowly so he wouldn't miss the arrival of the creature. His angel's sword was in his hand though hidden in the folds of the trench coat.

For a while everything remained quiet. Sam and Dean were crouching behind some low bushes, keeping an eye on the clearing where the angel stood, all three of them waiting and hardly moving. Then, suddenly, a loud roar sounded through the woods and soon after the monster appeared in the clearing.

It was the first time that the Winchesters actually saw the creature that had caused Castiel all this trouble. It came thundering into the clearing, almost exactly opposite from where they were hiding.

"What an ugly son of a bitch." Dean whispered when he saw it. "Have you ever seen anything like his or even read about it?" he asked his younger brother.

Sam shook his head. "No, I haven't. And I think once is quite enough." he whispered back.

The monster was four-legged and huge. It almost stood as tall as Castiel and had a stocky, muscular build. It was covered all over in matted black fur and it had yellow eyes which blazed like fire from its misshapen face. It opened its maw for another earsplitting roar and in doing so also showed dozens of long and probably razor-sharp teeth. Saliva dripped from the two especially long fangs and the grass on which it fell started to sizzle and smoke.

"Acidic saliva. What a nice monster." Dean remarked sarcastically.

"Yeah, sweet. I wouldn't let it lick my hand though." Sam replied.

They kept on watching. They wanted to wait until the creature actually did something more than just look intimidating. As if it had read their thoughts the monster started to move. It slowly circled Castiel and after it had completed one round it rushed the angel and was met by a blade.

Sam and Dean now grabbed their weapons and left their hiding places to help Castiel. The angel was still keeping the creature at bay, but all the cuts with the blade didn't seem to slow the thing down at all. The wounds appeared to be closing almost instantly.

The brothers had almost reached the fight when the monster hit Castiel with its massive clawed paw and Castiel flew several feet across the clearing. But before it could pursue him to finish the job, Sam and Dean were there and started firing shots at the creature. This at least distracted it, if nothing else.

The brothers kept firing at the thing until Castiel was back on his feet and attacked again. It went on like this for a while and the creature seemed to be almost invincible. Only very slowly their massive attack started to show results. The wounds they caused the creature weren't closing as fast anymore. This was good because it meant that it could probably be killed eventually. The only problem was that Sam and Dean were quickly becoming exhausted by this dragged out battle.

Even Castiel was having more and more trouble to keep up the speed and accuracy necessary to fight the monster. He sustained a few cuts and bites from the monster, which of course were healing fast because he was an angel. But the Winchester brothers could tell that the angel's wounds were gradually healing slower as well. Especially the bites, which also burned because of the saliva.

Then, suddenly, the creature turned entirely on the brothers, who quickly retreated to get out of the way of the saliva dripping teeth. But the thing didn't even try to bite them. It just ran into them with tremendous speed, surprising them so that they couldn't get out of the way in time anymore. The creature knocked them down at the edge of the clearing and they both needed a moment to catch their breaths before being able to get up again.

When they were finally standing upright again they had to watch the monster attack Cas again. They were too far away to really be able to help him. Even though they ran towards him as fast as they could they could not prevent the bite. The monster caught Castiel's side with its teeth and almost tore a piece out of the angel's upper body.

"Cas!" Dean yelled as he saw his angel fall and not getting up again. He raced across the last few yards separating him from the creature and he reached it before it could get to Castiel again and hurt him even more.

Sam followed as quickly as he could, worried that his brother might do something stupid now that he thought Castiel might be dead. He saw Dean grab the creatures short tail and pulling it back with it, away from Cas. It was enough to distract the creature, which didn't know what to do about the hunter holding on to its tail. It was too muscular to just twist its body around enough to reach Dean with its muzzle.

Sam seized this chance and ran to Castiel and, taking his sword, attacked the creature while it was busy trying to get rid of Dean, who almost pulled off its tail. The thing didn't even notice Sam at all and therefore he was able to cut of its head with one clean and powerful strike of the blade.

When the head fell, Dean immediately let go of the monster and ran over to where Cas lay. Sam came, too, after he had set the creatures remains on fire, just to be sure that it stayed dead. Dean was kneeling next to Cas, cradling the angel's head in his hands.

Sam knelt on Cas' other side and looked the angel over. The bite had already healed, there were no physical wounds left anymore. And Sam could also feel a pulse, which had to be a good sign. Something else was keeping him from waking up.

"Come on man. Wake up. You can't just leave me like this. You promised you wouldn't, you lying bastard." Dean was begging the motionless form of his angel, a tear running down his cheek.

"He's not dead Dean, just unconscious. He'll wake up eventually." Sam tried to cheer up his brother. And after he had said it about three time the words finally seemed to register with Dean.

"Not dead?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"No, I don't think so. But I'm no specialist for angels." Sam answered.

"We should get him out here. Take him back to the motel where he can recover." Dean decided after another moment. And together the two hunters carried the comatose angel through the woods to where they had parked the Impala. They gently laid him down across the backseat and drove back to the motel, hoping Castiel would soon wake up again.

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**Aren't we all hoping that Cas will wake up again soon? Anyway, now I really have only one more chapter planned, which should be just right to finish the story. Hope you enjoyed it, even though the chapter doesn't exactly end on light note.**


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the motel the brothers rented an extra room for Cas, so he could recover in peace. They laid the angel down on the bed and kept him company, waiting for him to wake up. For hours they waited but nothing changed. Since there were no visible physical wounds there was nothing else they could do.

"I'm going to bed. There's nothing I can do for him and I'm about to fall asleep right in this chair." Sam said sometime after midnight.

"Okay Sammy. I'll stay here with Cas. Can you try to find out what we can do about this Micah asshole?" Dean answered without taking his eyes off his angel. He had now become used to referring to Castiel as 'his angel'. It didn't bother him anymore like it had only a few days ago.

"I don't think there is anything we can do. From what Cas said this Micah guy is about as powerful as Raphael, so really we can just hope he doesn't have a plan B and let Cas deal with him when he's better."Sam replied as he got up and left the room by himself. Somehow he hadn't really expected Dean to come with him, but he didn't want to ponder the reason right now.

When Sam had closed the door behind him Dean pulled his chair closer to the bed on which Cas was lying. He smoothed the folds of the trench coat and slightly loosened the tie, imagining that Cas would be more comfortable that way. Then he took the angel's hand in his and stroked his thumb in circles across the back of it.

"C'mon Cas, you gotta wake up. You said you'd always come back to me." he stared at Castiel as he said this, but the angel didn't move and didn't open his eyes. Dean would even have started to pray if he had thought it would help, he'd do almost anything.

He felt his head become heavier and heavier and let it drop on the mattress next to Cas. During the night he woke up from this uncomfortable position and drowsily climbed into bed next to Castiel, falling asleep again right there.

He woke up again when he felt Cas stirring next to him. Dean opened his eyes, propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the angel. But Cas looked different than earlier that night. He was covered in cuts and bruises and his clothes were torn almost to shreds, but at least now he was awake.

"Cas, what the fuck is going on? Are…are you okay? Where do these wounds come from? "Dean asked confused and worried.

"No, I'm not okay. This is a dream. These wounds are a manifestation of the damage that has been done to my true form by the creature. I cannot wake up until they have all healed." Cas explained.

"Is there anything I can do to help you heal?" Dean inquired. He sat up to get a better look at Cas and carefully traced one of the bigger bruises on Cas' arm, which was clearly visible through the torn shirt. As he did this the bruise he touched slowly faded and then disappeared completely.

"Does this help?" he whispered, looking into his angel's bright blue eyes, awed by the effect his touch seemed to have. Cas simply nodded and kept staring back into Dean's eyes. His whole face lit up in something that closely resembled bliss.

"Like I said, these wounds are simply a manifestation that you can see. The real damage is of a transcendental nature, which can only be healed by a show of love, affection and friendship." Cas told him.

Dean stopped at the mention of 'love', but it could mean different things, right? Not necessarily love love. And as long as he could help his angel he didn't really care about anything else. All he knew was that he didn't want to lose Cas and he couldn't bear to see him suffer. So he reached for Cas' cheek where another big bruise was located and he caressed it till it was gone.

He kept this procedure up until all the bruises on Cas' upper body were gone. It hadn't taken very long, especially after he had found out that kissing the cuts and bruises made them disappear faster than simply touching them. He had removed the angel's shirt eventually since it was hardly there anymore, anyway.

But he had stopped at Cas' pants. Even though he had kissed and licked almost Castiel's entire chest and had enjoyed the sounds of pleasure that had come from his angel, taking off the pants had seemed to go too far. He hadn't even kissed Cas on the lips, even though they looked very tempting and kissable. But this was strictly a medical procedure and not foreplay. And it was all a dream, so it didn't really count at all.

Then the dream was over, just as sudden as it had started. Dean was awake again for real and Cas was lying next to him, still unconscious. The good feeling that Dean had had during the dream, when he had been able to talk to Cas and help him faded at once. Despair and worry replaced it. He had done what he could and it hadn't been enough.

He stroked the angel's cheek again, or for real this time. These dream encounters could be confusing sometimes. But as his hand lightly touched Cas' skin Dean could feel a small movement. He tried again, with the same result. This was better than before. It seemed like his angel was slowly recovering after all.

He kept touching Cas and moved his body closer to him, pressing himself against the motionless angel. But after a while he had to admit that even though this was helping, it wasn't enough. He thought for a long while and then he slowly leaned over Cas and softly pressed his lips on the angel's.

It was a strange feeling, kissing someone who wasn't even conscious, but it didn't really matter. If Cas didn't wake up then no one would ever know about this. If he did wake up everything would be fine. It was worth a try.

After a few seconds Dean pulled away and watched the angel's face. At first nothing happened and Dean was wavering between giving up and trying again, when finally the angel's eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes, looking directly at Dean.

"Hey Cas. Welcome back." Dean smiled at him and touched his cheek.

"Yes, I'm back. And it's all thanks to you." Cas agreed and lifted his head up slightly to get another kiss from Dean. Dean hesitated for only a moment before thinking 'oh what the hell' and leaned down to meet Cas in a kiss that was gentle and careful, but still a lot more passionate than the one before.

"How do you feel?" Dean asked slightly breathless after a long while.

"I feel a lot better already, thanks to you Dean."Cas replied. "But I think I still need to spend some more time in bed to fully recover."

"I think you're right. And I'll stay here and keep you company and make sure you won't get bored." Dean grinned as he pulled the blanket over both of them and pulled Cas into a tight embrace.

The End

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**Hey everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the entire story. Finally Destiel in the end, right ;)**

**Anyway, thank you all for reading and reviewing. Those reviews were my motivation, so a special thanks to everyone who reviewed (and still does after this chapter).  
**


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